Oliver Cromwell

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Title: Oliver Cromwell

Author: John Drinkwater

Release Date: November 18, 2005 [EBook #17091]

Language: English

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OLIVER

CROMWELL

A Play

BY

JOHN DRINKWATER

BOSTON AND NEW YORK

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

TO

BERNARD SHAW

WITH HOMAGE TO THE

MASTER DRAMATIST OF HIS AGE

AND WITH THE GRATITUDE THAT IS HIS DUE

FROM EVERY YOUNGER WRITER FOR

THE ENGLISH THEATRE

Contents

Characters
Scene I

Ely, 1639

Scene II

The Commons, November 1641

Scene III

Ely, 1642

Scene IV

Naseby, after dawn, July 14, 1645

Scene V

Naseby, night, July 14, 1645

Scene VI

Hampton Court, November 1647

Scene VII

London, January 30, 1649

Scene VIII

Whitehall, November 1654

Copyright Notice (1921)

THE CHARACTERS ARE

Mrs. Cromwell, Oliver's mother
Elizabeth Cromwell, his wife
Bridget Cromwell, his daughter
John Hampden
Henry Ireton
Oliver Cromwell
Seth Tanner
Two Agents to the Earl of Bedford
Amos Tanner
A Member of Parliament
The Speaker of the House of Commons
Bassett, an officer of the House
The Mayor of Ely
General Fairfax
Colonel Staines
Colonel Pemberton
A Scout
A Surgeon
An Aide
Neal, Secretary to Charles
Charles I

Farm labourers—Members of Parliament

SCENE I

Cromwell's house at Ely, about the year 1639. An early summer evening. The window of the room opens on to a
smooth lawn, used for bowling, and a garden full of flowers.

Oliver's wife, Elizabeth Cromwell, is sitting at the table, sewing. In a chair by the open window Mrs. Cromwell,
his mother, is reading. She is eighty years of age.

Mrs. Cromwell:
Oliver troubles me, persuading everywhere. Restless like this.

Elizabeth:
He says that the time is uneasy, and that we are part of it.

Mrs. Cromwell:
There's a man's house. It's enough surely.

Elizabeth:
I know. But Oliver must be doing. You know how when he took the magistracy he would listen to none of us. He
knows best.

Mrs. Cromwell:
What time is John coming?

Elizabeth:
By nightfall he said. Henry Ireton is coming with him.

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Mrs. Cromwell:
John Hampden is like that, too. He excites the boy.

Elizabeth:
Yes, but mother, you will do nothing with Oliver by thinking of him as a boy.

Mrs. Cromwell:
Of course he's a boy.

Elizabeth:
He's forty.

Mrs. Cromwell:
Methuselah.

Elizabeth:
What?

Mrs. Cromwell:
I said Methuselah.

Elizabeth:
He says John's the bravest man in England.

Mrs. Cromwell:
Just because he won't pay a tax. How if everybody refused to pay taxes? If you don't have taxes, I don't see how you
are to have a government. Though I can't see that it governs anybody, except those that don't need it.

Elizabeth:
Oliver says it's a wrong tax, this ship money.

Mrs. Cromwell:
There's always something wrong. It keeps men busy, I suppose.

Elizabeth:
But it was brave of John.

Mrs. Cromwell:
I know, I know. But why must he come here to-night of all in the year? Oliver's like somebody out of the Bible about
to-morrow as it is. This will make him worse. I wish John no harm, but—well, I hope he's got a bad horse.

Elizabeth:
Oliver's mind is made up about the common, whatever happens. John will make no difference.

Mrs. Cromwell:
You can't pretend he'll make him more temperate.

Elizabeth:
It's very wrong to take away the common from the people. I think Oliver is right.

Mrs. Cromwell:
Of course he's right. But I'm too old. I've seen too many broken heads. He'll be no righter for a broken head.

(BRIDGET CROMWELL, a girl, comes. She takes some eggs from her apron and puts them on a dish on a
shelf.)

Bridget:
Why, grandmother, whose head is to be broken?

Mrs. Cromwell:
Your father's is like to be.

Bridget:
You mean to-morrow?

Elizabeth:
At the meeting, yes.

Bridget:
But he must do it. Why, the people have fished and kept cattle there longer than any one can remember. Who is an Earl
of Bedford to take it away from them? I know I would let my head be broken first.

Elizabeth:
It is said that the King gave leave.

Bridget:
Then the King gave what wasn't his to give.

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Mrs. Cromwell:
Now, child, don't you encourage your father, too. He's eager enough without that.

Bridget:
But I must, grandmother. There's too much of this kind of interference everywhere. Father says that Cousin John
Hampden says—

Mrs. Cromwell:
And that's three of you in one house. And this young Mr. Ireton has ideas, too, I believe.

Bridget:
Mr. Ireton is twenty-eight.

Mrs. Cromwell:
That accounts for it.

Bridget:
You don't think they just ought to be allowed to take the common away, do you, grandmother?

Mrs. Cromwell:
It makes no matter what I think.

Bridget:
Of course you don't. None of us do. We couldn't.

Elizabeth:
You mustn't tease your grandmother, Bridget.

Mrs. Cromwell:
She's a very old lady, and can't speak for herself.

Bridget:
I meant no ill manners, grandmother.

Mrs. Cromwell:
Never mind your manners child. But don't encourage your father. He doesn't need it. This house is all commotion as
it is.

Bridget:
I can't help it. There's so much going on everywhere. The King doesn't deal fairly by people, I'm sure. Men like father
must say it.

Elizabeth:
Have you put the lavender in the rooms?

Bridget:
No. I'll take it now.

(She takes a tray from the window and goes out.)

Mrs. Cromwell:
I don't know what will happen. I sometimes think the world isn't worth quarrelling about at all. And yet I'm a silly old
woman to talk like that. But Oliver is a brave fellow—and John, all of them. I want them to be brave in peace—that's
the way you think at eighty.

(Reading.)

This Mr. Donne is a very good poet, but he's rather hard to understand. I suppose that is being eighty, too. Mr. Herrick
is very simple. John Hampden sent me some copies from a friend who knows Mr. Herrick. I like them better than John
does.

(She takes up a manuscript book and reads:)

Lord, Thou hast given me a cell

Wherein to dwell;

A little house, whose humble roof

Is waterproof;

Under the spars of which I lie

Both soft and dry....

But Mr. Shakespeare was best of all, I do believe. A very civil gentleman, too. I spoke to him once—that was forty
years ago, the year Oliver was born, I remember. He didn't hold with all this talk against kings.

Elizabeth:
There are kings and kings. Oliver finds no offence in kings—it's in a king.

Mrs. Cromwell:
Well, it's all very dangerous, and I'm too old for it. Not but what Oliver's brain is better than mine. But we have to sit
still and watch. However

(reading)—

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Lord, 'tis thy plenty-dropping hand

That sows my land:

All this, and better, dost thou send

Me for this end:

That I should render for my part

A thankful heart,

Which, fired with incense, I resign

As wholly Thine:

But the acceptance—that must be,

O Lord, by Thee.

Mr. Herrick has chosen a nice name for his book. Hesperides. He has taste as well as understanding.

(The sound of horsemen arriving is heard.)

Elizabeth:
That will be John and Mr. Ireton.

(She looks from the window, puts her work into a box, and goes out.)

Mrs. Cromwell

(turning her pages):

Ye have been fresh and green,

Ye have been filled with flowers,

And ye the walks have been

Where maids have spent their hours.

Like unthrifts, having spent

Your stock, and needy grown,

You're left here to lament

Your poor estates alone.

(ELIZABETH comes back with JOHN HAMPDEN, aged forty-four, and HENRY IRETON, twenty-eight. They both
shake hands with MRS. CROMWELL.)

Hampden:
How do you do, ma'am?

Mrs. Cromwell:
Well, John.

Ireton:
Good-evening, ma'am.

Mrs. Cromwell:
You're welcome, Master Ireton, I'm sure. If you behave yourself, young man.

Ireton:
How may that be, ma'am?

Mrs. Cromwell:
No, don't ask me. Only don't you and John come putting more notions into Oliver's head. I'm sure he's got more than
he can rightly manage as it is.

Hampden:
We were told down there that it's to-morrow that my Lord of Bedford and his like are to claim the common rights.

Elizabeth:
Yes.

Ireton:
Mr. Cromwell is to resist, they said.

Mrs. Cromwell:
Now, young man, Oliver doesn't need any urging to it. He needs holding back.

Hampden:
But that's fine for Oliver. Every man must speak to-day—and do as well, if it comes to it.

Mrs. Cromwell:
Yes, but don't be so proud about it, John.

Elizabeth:
I think they should be proud.

Mrs. Cromwell:
Remember what Mr. Herbert says—

A servant with this clause

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Makes drudgerie divine.

Who sweeps a room, as for thy laws,

Makes that and th' action fine.

As for thy laws, remember.

Hampden:
Surely, we shall remember that always.

(BRIDGET comes in.)

Bridget:
Cousin John.

Hampden:
Well, Bridget, my girl.

(He kisses her.)

Bridget:
How do you do, Mr. Ireton?

Ireton

(shaking hands):

Well, I thank you, mistress.

Bridget:
Does father know, mother?

Elizabeth:
I've sent down to the field.

Mrs. Cromwell:
He'll be here soon enough. I'm sorry the judges were against you, John. I don't know what else you could expect,
though. They are the King's judges, I suppose.

Hampden:
That's what we dispute, ma'am. The King says that they should serve him. We say that they should serve the laws.

Ireton:
It was just when Mr. Hampden was being heard. The law they said was the King's old and loyal servant: that lex was
not rex, but that none could gainsay that rex was lex.

Hampden:
That's what we shall have to decide, and before long, I think.

Bridget:
Father says that.

Mrs. Cromwell:
This house is ready for any kind of revolution, John.

Ireton:
But you find it everywhere, ma'am. All along the countryside, in the markets, in the church porches—everywhere.

Elizabeth:
Is the vine doing well this year, John?

Hampden:
It's the best year I remember.

Elizabeth:
Ours, too.

Bridget:
Were you there, Mr. Ireton, when Cousin John's case was tried?

Ireton:
Yes.

Bridget:
It was splendid, wasn't it—although he lost, I mean?

Ireton:
It was the note of deliverance.

Bridget:
I wish I could have been there, Cousin John.

Mrs. Cromwell:

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Will you give me my shawl, Henry Ireton.

(He does so.)

There's Oliver coming. Now you can all be thunder.

Bridget:
Now, grandmother, you know you don't think it's just that.

Mrs. Cromwell:
So you have hope for me yet, miss?

Bridget:
Grandmother.

(CROMWELL comes in. He is in plain country dress. His age is forty.)

Cromwell:
John—it's good to see you. You're an hour before reckoning.

(Taking HAMPDEN'S hand.)

Hampden:
Yes, Oliver. Is all well?

Cromwell:
Not that—but our courage is well enough. You are very welcome, Henry.

(Taking his hand.)

Was it good travelling?

Ireton:
Not a bad mile on the journey.

Bridget:
Father, Mr. Ireton heard Cousin John's case tried. Wasn't he lucky?

Cromwell:
Whoever heard that heard history being made, John. It was a great example to set.

Hampden:
One works from the spirit, Oliver.

Cromwell:
That's what we must do. You've heard about this affair down here?

Hampden:
The common? Yes.

Cromwell:
There's to be no yielding about that.

Hampden:
I'm glad of it, Oliver.

Mrs. Cromwell:
What will it all come to, John?

Cromwell:
There are times, mother, when we may not count the cost.

Mrs. Cromwell:
You're very vexatious sometimes, Oliver.

Cromwell:
But you know I'm right in this, mother.

Mrs. Cromwell:
Being right doesn't make you less vexatious.

Elizabeth:
Have they finished in Long Close?

Cromwell:
Yes. They will be here soon.

Bridget:
They all come up from the field for prayers, Mr. Ireton, at the day's end.

Hampden:
Is your hay good, Oliver?

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Cromwell:
I haven't much down this year. What there is, is good.

Hampden:
We got the floods too late. But it has mended well enough.

Bridget:
The dancers came for some money, father.

Elizabeth:
Shall I give them something?

Cromwell:
To be sure.

Elizabeth:
How much?

Cromwell:
Oh—a crown or two.

Hampden:
Dancers?

Cromwell:
Aye, John. Don't you hold with them?

Hampden:
They're no offence, perhaps—but I'm never quite sure.

Cromwell:
Oh, but be sure, John. We must make no mistake about that. They are lovely, the dancers. I'm all for singing and
dancing. The Lord is one to sing and dance, I'll be bound.

Mrs. Cromwell:
Now you talk sense, Oliver. Mr. Herrick is very clear about that. So was David.

Ireton:
Who is Mr. Herrick, ma'am?

Mrs. Cromwell:
He's a poet, young man. And he's for being quiet, and not bustling about everywhere. You ought to read him.

Ireton:
Do you know Mr. Herrick's work, Mr. Hampden?

Hampden:
I've nothing to say against that, though it's not very serious.

Mrs. Cromwell:
Don't be silly, Mr. Hampden—if you excuse me for saying so. Mr. Herrick is very serious indeed, only he isn't always
telling us of it.

Hampden:
Yes: perhaps you're right, ma'am. I prefer George Herbert.

Bridget:
Yes, I like his book, too, Cousin John.

Mrs. Cromwell:
Well, it's no bad judgment to stand for Mr. Herbert. Only I won't have nonsense talked about Mr. Herrick.

Elizabeth:
Are you ready, Oliver? They are coming.

Oliver:
Yes.

(To HAMPDEN and IRETON.)

Friends, you are welcome to this house.

(The labourers from the farm are gathering outside the window. The people in the room form towards
them.)

Cromwell:
Brethren in God, at the end of another day's labour we are met to praise Him from whom are the means to labour and
its rewards. As we go about these fields, He is with us. As you deal by me, and I by you, His eye sees us. Nothing
good befalls us but it is by His will, no affliction is ours but His loving mercy will hear us. The Lord God walks at our

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hand. He is here now in our midst. His desires are our freedom, His wrath our tyranny one over another. Be very
merciful in all your ways, for mercy is His name. May His counsel be always with our little fellowship. If I should fail
towards any man, let him speak. May we be as brothers always, one to another. And may we serve Him to serve
whom alone is wisdom. In Jesus Christ's name, Amen. "All people that on earth do dwell."

(They sing:)

All people that on earth do dwell,

Sing to the Lord, with cheerful voice;

Him serve with fear, his praise forth tell,

Come ye before Him and rejoice.

The Lord, we know, is God indeed.

Without our aid He did us make;

We are his folk, He doth us feed,

And for his sheep He doth us take.

O enter then his gate with praise,

Approach with joy his courts unto;

Praise, laud, and bless his name always,

For it is seemly so to do.

(As the men move away, one of them, SETH TANNER, comes forward.)

Seth:
As I came up from Long Close I stopped at the ale-house. Two fellows were there from the Earl of Bedford. Talking
they were.

Cromwell:
What had they to say?

Seth:
It seems they know you are going to stand out for the people to-morrow.

Cromwell:
Well?

Seth:
Treason, they call it.

Cromwell:
Treason.

Seth:
Seeing that my Lord of Bedford has the King's authority, as it were.

Cromwell:
Thank you, Seth.

Seth:
They were coming here, they said. To warn you, and persuade you against it if it might be.

Cromwell:
Thank you, Seth.

Seth

(to HAMPDEN):

If I might be so bold, sir?

Hampden:
What, my friend?

Seth:
That was a brave thing to do, sir, that about the ship money. We common folk know what it means. I'm sure we thank
you with all our hearts.

Hampden:
I don't know about brave, but I know it is good to be thanked like that.

Seth:
Yes, sir. That's all. Good-even, sir; good-even, mistress.

(He is moving away as two of BEDFORD'S agents appear at the window, followed by the other labourers,
who have returned with them.)

First Agent:
Is this Mr. Oliver Cromwell's?

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Cromwell:
It is.

Mrs. Cromwell:
The door is along there, to the right.

Cromwell:
It's no matter, mother. What do you want?

First Agent:
To see Mr. Cromwell.

Cromwell:
You are speaking to him.

Second Agent:
May we come in?

Cromwell:
Why, yes.

(They do so. The labourers gather round the window again. They follow the coming argument with close
personal concern.)

Second Agent:
May we speak with you alone?

Cromwell:
These are all my friends. I have nothing to say that I would not have them hear.

First Agent:
It is discretion for your sake.

Cromwell:
I do not desire your interest. What have you to say?

Second Agent:
It is said that you will oppose the proclamation to-morrow.

Cromwell:
Assuredly.

Second Agent:
The Earl of Bedford and those with him have not drained these commons for nothing.

Cromwell:
Well?

Second Agent:
They have earned the rights to be proclaimed to-morrow.

Cromwell:
By whose will?

First Agent:
By the King's.

Cromwell:
These rights of pasture belong to the people. It is within no man's powers to take them away.

Second Agent:
The King decrees it.

Cromwell:
I know not how that may be. I know that these rights are the people's, above any earl or king whatsoever. The King is
to defend our rights, not to destroy them.

First Agent:
This is plain treason.

Cromwell:
It is plain sense.

Second Agent:
What will you do?

Cromwell:
To-morrow you will proclaim these rights from the people to my lord of Bedford. To-morrow I shall tell the people that

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I alone, if needs be, will oppose it. I will fight it from court to court. I will make these rights my rights—as they are.
These people of Ely shall speak through me. They shall pay me a groat a year for each head of cattle they graze, and
they shall enjoy every foot of the land as long as I have a word or a pound left for resistance.

Second Agent:
You are very arrogant, Mr. Cromwell. There are lessons to be learnt.

Cromwell:
Aye, there are lessons. I do not speak to you, but to your master—to the King himself if it comes to that. You may tell
him all that I have said. We folk of Ely will use our own commons, and let the Earl of Bedford keep within his own
palings. There are lessons, say you. This is Mr. John Hampden. Will you speak to him of lessons? Mr. Hampden's ship
money will be a King's lesson, I tell you.

Hampden:
You should tell your masters all that you see and hear. Do not flatter them. Let it be the truth. Say that men talk
everywhere, more and more openly. Tell them that you heard John Hampden say that the King's Star Chamber was an
abomination, that the King soiled his majesty in treating Mr. Prynne and Mr. Bastwick so. Say that you and your like
are reviled by all honest men.

Ireton:
And you can say that it is no fear of earls or kings that spared you the whipping you would deserve if you were better
than shadows.

Bridget:
Well said, Mr. Ireton.

(There is a demonstration of anger from the labourers, but CROMWELL checks it.)

Mrs. Cromwell:
Now, Henry Ireton, these gentlemen may be bears, but I won't have you make this room into a bear-pit.

Cromwell:
No, friends, these men say but what they are sent to say.

(To the agents.)

I should not speak to you but in the hope that you will report it to those that should know. I am a plain burgess of this
city. I farm a few lands and am known to none. But I have a faith that the people of this country are born to be, under
God, a free people. That is the fundamental principle of this English life, If your masters, be they who they may, forget
that, then, as you say, there will be lessons to be learnt. Here in Ely it is my part to see that my fellows do not lose their
birthright. You shall not find us ignorant nor afraid. I would have no violence; let all be by persuasion and tolerance. But
these just liberties must not be touched. Will you ask my Lord of Bedford to reconsider this?

Second Agent:
His Lordship will reconsider nothing. The proclamation is to-morrow.

Cromwell:
I have no more to say.

First Agent:
Be you wary, Mr. Cromwell. These arrogances have their penalties. The King's anger is not light.

Cromwell:
You threaten idly. My word is one spoken throughout the land. You can say so.

Second Agent:
Mr. Cromwell, we do not—

Cromwell:
My mind is fixed. I think I have made my intention clear. That is all. You may go.

(There is again a movement against them as they go, followed by the labourers.)

Cromwell:
Seth.

Seth:
Yes, sir.

Cromwell:
Ask your father to stay, will you? We shall want a song after that.

Seth:
Yes, sir.

(He calls from the window.)

Father. Master wants you to sing.

(AMOS TANNER comes back.)

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Cromwell:
Thank you, Amos. Just a minute, will you? When will supper be, wife?

Elizabeth:
In half an hour.

Cromwell:
How would a turn at bowling be, John?

Hampden:
Done.

Cromwell:
Henry, you, too?

Ireton:
Yes; and, Mr. Cromwell—

Cromwell:
Yes.

Ireton:
I don't know how things are going. But I feel that great events are making and that you and Mr. Hampden here may
have power to use men. If it should be so, I would be used. That is all.

Cromwell:
John's the man. I'm likely enough to stay the rest of my days in Ely.

Ireton:
I don't think so, sir.

Cromwell:
No? Well. A glass of sherry, John—or gin?

Hampden:
Sherry, Oliver.

(CROMWELL pours out the sherry.)

Cromwell:
Henry?

Ireton:
Thank you.

Cromwell

(giving glasses):

Amos?

Amos:
I'd liefer have a pot of ale, master, if might be.

Cromwell:
Yes, yes. Bridget, girl.

(BRIDGET goes.)

Mrs. Cromwell:
Oliver, boy, you were quite right—all that you said to those men, I mean. I don't approve, mind you, but you were quite
right.

Cromwell:
Thank you, mother. I knew you would think so.

Elizabeth:
I wonder what will come of it. You never know, once you begin like this.

Cromwell:
You never know, wife.

Hampden:
There are lessons to be learnt.

Cromwell:
That's what they said.

(BRIDGET returns with a foaming pot of ale, which she gives to AMOS.)

Cromwell

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(drinking):

To freedom, John. That's good sherry. I respect not such ill reasoners as would keep all wine out of the country lest
men should be drunk. Now, Amos. Come along, John, my touch was good last night. I shall beat you.

(He goes out on to the lawn beyond the window, with HAMPDEN and IRETON. They are seen passing to and
fro, playing bowls.)

Amos

(singing:)

When I shall in the churchyard lie,

Poor scholar though I be,

The wheat, the barley, and the rye

Will better wear for me.

For truly have I ploughed and sown,

And kept my acres clean;

And written on my churchyard stone

This character be seen:

"His flocks, his barns, his gear he made

His daily diligence,

Nor counted all his earnings paid

In pockets full of pence."

(As he finishes, the bowlers stand listening at the window.)

THE SCENE CLOSES

SCENE II

The Commons of England in session at St. Hepburn's Chapel, Westminster, on November 22, 1641. Cromwell,
Hampden, Ireton among those sitting. We see the east end of the Chapel, with the Speaker. It is past midnight,
and the house is lighted with candles. A member is speaking.

The Member:
That the grievances set out in this Remonstrance now before you are just is clear. The matter has been debated by us
these eight hours, and none has been able to deny the wrongs which are here set forth. It is not well with our state, and
correction is needed. Mr. Ireton has very clearly shown us how this is. But we must be wary. The King is the King, a
necessary part, as it must seem to us, of the government of this country.

(There are murmurs for and against this; assent in the majority.)

To pass this Remonstrance can be no other than to pass a vote of no confidence in that King. Consider this. Saying so
much, how shall you deny to overthrow the crown if need be? And who among you is willing to bear that burden?

(The murmurs grow to conflicting cries.)

I beseech you let us not commit ourselves thus. Nor do not think I am weak in zeal. There are evil counsellors with the
King, and they would destroy us. Our liberties must be looked to. But there should be moderation in this act. We
should choose some other way. We must defend ourselves, but we must not challenge the King's authority so.

(He sits down to a confusion of voices, and HAMPDEN rises.)

Hampden:
My friend, I think, is deceived. This Remonstrance is not against the King. It is from the people of this country against a
policy. We desire no judgment—all we ask is redress. If we assert ourselves as in this instrument, we but put the King
in the way of just government. I think the King hardly knows the measure of his wrongs against us, and I say it who
have suffered.

(A murmur of assent.)

To speak clearly as is here done will, I think, be to mend his mind towards us. This Remonstrance has been drawn with
all care. Not only is its intent free of blame towards the King's majesty and person, but it can, I hope, be read by no
fair-minded man in the way that my friend fears. If I thought that, I should consider more closely my support of it. But I
have considered with all patience, and it seems to me good.

(He sits, and again there is a rattle of argument. CROMWELL rises.)

Cromwell:
Sir, this is a day when every man must speak the truth that is in him, or be silent in shame, and for ever. Mr. Hampden is
my kinsman, as you know, one who has my best affection. His word has ever been a strength among us, and no man
here but knows his valiance in the cause. His has been a long suffering, and his integrity but ripens. But I do not read this
occasion as he does, nor, let me say, do I fear it as does our friend who spoke before. That gentleman pleads that this
Remonstrance is a vote of want of confidence in the King, such as none of us would willingly pass. Mr. Hampden

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replies that it is no such vote. I say to you that it is such a vote, and that I would pass it with all my heart. Sir, this
country, the spirit of man in this country, has suffered grievances too great to be borne. By whom are they laid upon us?
I say it is by the King. Is a man's estate secure to himself? Does not the King pass upon it levies for his own designs?
You know that it is so. Is there not ship money? Mr. Hampden can tell you. Is not that the King's affair? Is there not a
Star Chamber? Ask Mr. Prynne and those others. These men disliked the King's church—a very dangerous church as
it seems to me—and were bold to say so. And for that each was fined five thousand pounds, and had his ears cut off,
and is now in prison for life. And does not the Star Chamber belong to the King? Who among you can deny it? And
this land is bruised, I tell you, by such infamies. There is no sureness in a man for his purse or his body, or his
conscience. The King,—not the head of the state, mark you, expressing the people's will in one authority,—but this man
Charles Rex, may use all these as he will. I aim not to overthrow the monarchy. I know its use and fitness in the realm,
as well as any. But this can endure no longer. The King is part of the state, but we have a King who has sought to put
the state to his private use. The King should have his authority, but it is an authority subject to the laws of the people.
This King denies it, and his judges flatter the heresy. You have but one question before you—there is in truth but one
raised by this Remonstrance. Is England to be governed by the King or by elected representatives of the people? That
is what we have now to decide, not for ourselves alone, but for our children in the generations to come. If the King will
profit by a lesson, I with any man will be his loyal and loving subject. But at this moment a lesson must be given. Why
else have you appointed my Lord of Essex from Parliament to take command of the armed forces of this country? Did
you not fear that the King would use these also against you? You know you did. I say it again, this that is now to be put
to you is a vote of want of confidence in the King. I would it were so more expressly.

(He sits to an angry tumult. HAMPDEN rises, and after a time secures order.)

Hampden:
Sir, this question could not be argued to an end if we sat here for a week. Already we have considered it more closely
and longer, I think, than any that has ever been before this House. It is morning. Each man has spoken freely from his
mind. I move that the question now be put.

The Speaker:
The question is, whether this question now be put.

(There are cries of "Yea," and "No.")

The Speaker:
I think the "Yeas" have it.

(This is followed by silence in the House.)

The Speaker:
Then the question now before the House is whether this Declaration shall pass.

(Again there are cries of "Yea" and "No" strongly emphatic on both sides.)

The Speaker:
I think the "Yeas" have it.

(There are loud and repeated cries of "No.")

The Speaker:
The House will divide. Tellers for the Yeas, Sir John Clotworthy, Mr. Arthur Goodwyn. Tellers for the Noes, Sir
Frederick Cornwallis and Mr. Strangwayes. The Yeas to go forth.

(The House divides, the Yeas, including CROMWELL, HAMPDEN, and IRETON, leaving the House, the Noes
remaining seated. The tellers for the Noes, with their staffs, count their numbers in the House, while the
tellers for the Yeas at the door count theirs as they reënter. The pent-up excitement grows as the Yeas
resume their seats and the telling draws to a close. The tellers move up to the SPEAKER and give in their
figures.)

The Speaker:
The Noes, 148. The Yeas, 159. The Yeas have it by eleven.

(The announcement is received with a loud turmoil of cheering, during which IRETON rises.)

Ireton:
Sir, I move that this measure, as passed by this House, be printed and distributed throughout the land.

(The House breaks out into a wild disturbance. "Yea" shouting against "No," swords being drawn and
members hustling each other. THE SPEAKER and HAMPDEN at length pacify them.)

Hampden:
I beg you remember what business you are on. These are grave times, for stout wills, but temperate blood. I beg you,
gentlemen.

The Speaker:
The question is, whether this Declaration shall be printed and distributed.

(Cries of "Yea" and "No.")

The Speaker:

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I think the "Noes" have it.

(Again there is tumult, during which the SPEAKER leaves his chair and the House; and the session breaks
up, the members leaving in passionate discussion. CROMWELL, HAMPDEN, and IRETON stand talking.)

Cromwell

(to HAMPDEN):

It is the beginning.

Hampden:
It may mean terror in this land.

Cromwell:
It may. But the country must be delivered. I had thought to live in peace among my Ely acres. I sought none of this. But
we must serve. If this Remonstrance had been rejected, I would have sold all I have and have never seen England
more. And I know there are many other honest men of this same resolution.

Ireton:
The issue is set. We may have to spend all that we have.

Cromwell:
Our goods, our peace, our lives.

Hampden:
We must be diligent among the people.

Cromwell:
It is the Lord's will.

Ireton:
I can speak for many in Nottinghamshire.

Cromwell:
They will be needed.

Hampden:
I can spend one thousand pounds on arms.

Cromwell:
Arms. Yes. If it must be. But God may spare us.

(There is a sound of argument outside, and BRIDGET CROMWELL, persuading an officer of the House to let
her enter, comes in with AMOS TANNER. They are both from a long journey.)

Bridget

(greeting her father and the others):

I went to your lodging and learnt that you were still here.

Cromwell:
But what is it, daughter?

Bridget:
Amos here—we had to come.

Cromwell:
Well?

Amos:
My boy—there, I can't tell.

Bridget:
Seth—you know he came to London last year.

Cromwell:
Yes.

Bridget:
It seems he was in a tavern here one evening, and they were talking about ship money. Seth said it was a bad thing, and
he spoke of our Cousin Hampden.

Amos:
He remembered Mr. Hampden when he was at Ely, sir. He always took a great opinion of Mr. Hampden, Seth did.

Bridget:
He said Cousin John was a great patriot because he wouldn't pay. The King's spies were there. Seth was taken. He got
a message sent down to Amos. It was to be a Star Chamber matter.

Amos:

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